DA, Sheriff's Office accused of witness tampering, obstruction

By Guillermo Contreras :
April 28, 2013

Mike McCrum says witnesses were told prosecutors had to be present in meetings with defense lawyers.

Likening it to the Obama administration's stonewalling of Congress in the “Fast and Furious” gun debacle, lawyers for former Bexar County sheriff's deputies charged with misconduct have accused prosecutors and the sheriff's office of tampering with witnesses.

The motion also accuses sheriff's office supervisors of scaring the employees, who are potential witnesses in the trials of Flores and Alvarado, into believing that they could lose their jobs or be reassigned to less favorable positions if they met with the defense at all, or without prosecutors present, before trial.

McCrum seeks a judicial order barring the office of District Attorney Susan Reed and the sheriff's office from pressuring the witnesses, which he argues violates his client's rights. A hearing could come within the next two weeks.

The motion said McCrum's office had contacted sheriff's employees and scheduled appointments to interview some of the witnesses, but after the DA's office got wind of it, the witnesses failed to show for interviews, or told the defense lawyers that they would not do so unless prosecutors were present.

The motion cites a March 5 directive from Reed's prosecutors to Chief Bexar Deputy Manuel Longoria.

“Chief — All officers/employees contacted by the defense should contact the prosecutor(s) handling the case FIRST for direction,” the directive states. “Even if they receive a subpoena, they should contact the prosecutors BEFORE talking with the defense. Any officers who have already talked to McCrum should immediately contact the prosecutors and tell them that they have spoken to McCrum and what they discussed.”

McCrum argues that the prosecution's actions are akin to those of the Obama administration in the fallout of the “Fast and Furious” gun walking scandal, where agents with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in Arizona lost track of numerous guns after they let licensed gun dealers sell the weapons to straw buyers to see if they led to Mexican cartel leaders. Some of the “walked” guns were found at crime scenes on both sides of the border, and one was used in the killing of a Border Patrol agent.

The director of the ATF later testified that “the Obama administration tried to stonewall Congress, deny witnesses the ability to testify freely and fire employees who refused to conceal damning information,” according to published reports. Because of a failure to cooperate, Attorney General Eric Holder became the first Cabinet member ever to be held in contempt. President Barack Obama implemented executive privilege and avoided having more embarrassing details surface.

First Assistant District Attorney Cliff Herberg scoffed at the allegations, saying the prosecution did nothing wrong.

“It's ridiculous,” he said. “This is a court case. It's not unusual for us to want to be present. And there's nothing unusual about us wanting to know what they said (to the defense).”

He said the sheriff's employees were free to speak with the defense if they wanted to but added that he could not speak for the sheriff's office about allegations against it.

A spokesman said late Sunday that he was not familiar with the case enough to respond to the allegations.

The tiff is the latest twist in a case that began with a federal investigation that focused on allegations that some former members of sheriff's narcotics unit stole money or drugs or committed similar misconduct, the San Antonio Express-News reported in late 2009.

The narcotics unit was overhauled — everyone was replaced with new deputies and supervisors — in the wake of the newspaper's report, and sheriff's officials fired Flores and Alvarado, recommending they be prosecuted.